sentries were placed at the door of the guard-house, and at the
top of the flight of steps which led thither, M. Baze being left there in
charge of three _sergents de ville_. Several soldiers, without their
weapons, and in their shirt-sleeves, came in and out. The Questor
appealed to them in the name of military honor. "Do not answer," said the
_sergent de ville_ to the soldiers.

M. Baze's two little girls had followed him with terrified eyes, and when
they lost sight of him the youngest burst into tears. "Sister," said the
elder, who was seven years old, "let us say our prayers," and the two
children, clasping their hands, knelt down.

Commissary Primorin, with his swarm of agents, burst into the Questor's
study, and laid hands on everything. The first papers which he perceived
on the middle of the table, and which he seized, were the famous decrees
which had been prepared in the event of the Assembly having voted the
proposal of the Questors. All the drawers were opened and searched. This
overhauling of M. Baze's papers, which the Commissary of Police termed a
domiciliary visit, lasted more than an hour.

M. Baze's clothes had been taken to him, and he had dressed. When the
"domiciliary visit" was over, he was taken out of the guard-house. There
was a _fiacre_ in the courtyard, into which he entered, together with the
three _sergents de ville_. The vehicle, in order to reach the Presidency
door, passed by the Cour d'Honneur and then by the Courde Canonis. Day
was breaking. M. Baze looked into the courtyard to see if the cannon were
still there. He saw the ammunition wagons ranged in order with their
shafts raised, but the places of the six cannon and the two mortars were
vacant.

In the avenue of the Presidency the _fiacre_ stopped for a moment. Two
lines of soldiers, standing at ease, lined the footpaths of the avenue.
At the foot of a tree were grouped three men: Colonel Espinasse, whom M.
Baze knew and recognized, a species of Lieutenant-Colonel, who wore a
black and orange ribbon round his neck, and a Major of Lancers, all three
sword in hand, consulting together. The windows of the _fiacre_ were
closed; M. Baze wished to lower them to appeal to these men; the
_sergents de ville_ seized his arms. The Commissary Primorin then came
up, and was about to re-enter the little chariot for two persons which
had brought him.

"Monsieur Baze," said he, with that villainous kind of courtesy which the
agents of the _cou